Opinion: Editorials

Editorial: Snapshots from the nation's press

Following President Trump's questionable lead, some congressional Republicans are trying to sow doubt about the integrity and impartiality of the FBI and the investigation led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. That investigation already has resulted in an indictment of Trump's former campaign chairman and a guilty plea by his first national security advisor, and it shows no sign of concluding.

On Thursday, four days after Trump tweeted that the FBI's reputation was "in tatters," Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told FBI Director Christopher A. Wray: "We cannot afford for the FBI — which has traditionally been dubbed the premier law enforcement agency in the world — to become tainted by politicization or the perception of a lack of even-handedness."

True enough, but the question is whether such a perception is fair or the result of politically motivated exaggeration by the president and his supporters. So far the evidence points strongly in the latter direction. That comes as no surprise — the attacks on the FBI fit a clear pattern of misdirection and deflection by the Trump administration and its GOP allies on the issue of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Ever since Mueller was appointed, there has been an effort by the president and his allies to discredit the special counsel's investigation.

Take the incident that Republicans are treating as a "smoking gun": the fact that an FBI agent named Peter Strzok was reassigned from Mueller's investigation earlier this year after it was discovered that he had sent personal text messages critical of Trump to another FBI official.

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Strzok also was involved in the investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server for State Department business, and some Republicans speculate that he softened the FBI's conclusion about Clinton's culpability. Trump has made a similar accusation.

The fact that Strzok was transferred suggests that his supervisors recognized that there was an appearance problem. But at this point, no one has presented even a shred of evidence that Strzok was influenced by his political beliefs in the way he performed his duties, either as part of the Mueller investigation or in connection with the Clinton email inquiry.

—Los Angeles Times

Franken and Moore

Sen. Al Franken was not kicked out of Congress. He decided to resign. That distinction should not be lost on either Congress or the American people, especially if Roy Moore wins Tuesday's Alabama Senate election.

Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, could have remained in Congress to fight the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against him. He chose not to only after intense partisan pressure: It's one thing to be ostracized within your party; it's another to cost your party its credibility in an intense cultural debate.

If the Democratic Party wants to send the message that it does not tolerate harassment, the theory goes, then it could not accept Franken's continued presence in the Senate. Besides, a Democratic governor will appoint Franken's successor, and in the special election to replace him, Democrats will be favored to win. Principles are so much easier to keep when the politics work out.

That is not the case for Republicans and Moore. The accusations against Moore are both more numerous and more serious than those against Franken, and party leaders initially urged him to withdraw and said they believed the women who accused him. As Election Day approaches, however, the party has resumed its funding of Moore's campaign.

Yet Republicans shouldn't fool themselves: If Moore is elected on Tuesday, their dilemma gets even more fraught. Should he be expelled, as some have suggested? They should think twice before taking such action for misdeeds — alleged or confessed — committed decades before an election and known to the public.

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